


The Beauty that Water Adds to a River

by Cabach



Series: A Bull in an Otter's China Shop [3]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Asexual Character, Caesar can suck my wiggly dick, Denies He Needs Help, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Flirting by making food, Food Porn, Healthy Weight Gain, Kid Fic, Local Man Pushed to His Breaking Point, M/M, Middle Aged People Falling In Love, Older Queer People Who Get a Happy Ending, Other, Sick Fic, Size Difference, Slow Burn, Transgender Characters, Unhealthy Weight Loss, accidentally falling in love, dealing with depression, redemption arc, vulpes is secretly an anxious wreck who can’t express any emotion besides bland annoyance k thx bye
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27275197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cabach/pseuds/Cabach
Summary: Vulpes Inculta’s entirelifehad been dedicated to his job at Sallow Inc. After his boss, Edward Sallow, fired him out of the blue, Vulpes found himself completely at a loss. He had nothing, nowhere to go, and no one to turn to.Having to throw himself on the mercy of a jilted ex-coworker, Vulpes begins the long process to rebuild what he lost. Along the way, he learns that not every boss is an unstable megalomaniac, thatconnectionwith his peers is more important thancompetition, and most importantly…He learns how to cook.An Office AU-----------A stand-alone from the rest of the China Shop series.
Relationships: Benny/Emily Ortal, Benny/Swank (Fallout), Bitter Root/Mags, Female Courier & OC Children, Female Courier/Vulpes Inculta, Lucius (Fallout)/Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Major Dhatri & Bitter Root, Sunny Smiles/Trudy, Yes Man/Victor
Series: A Bull in an Otter's China Shop [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754395
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8





	1. Year One: May

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally pulled an all-nighter to get this started. 
> 
> Not to get personal on Main and all, but a lot of the queer content is based on my own experiences with questioning and eventually coming to terms with my own ace, bi, trans, and nonbinary identities, and I recognize that those experiences are not universal. If you’re questioning something about your own identity or dealing with dysphoria of any kind, let me encourage you: It Does Get Better. I don’t give perfect advice but I’m always available to talk if you need it :)

Vulpes had been fired. 

Sallow Surveyors Inc., the surveying company based in Flagstaff that he had worked at for the last twenty years, had just up and fired him. He had worked his way up from the surveyors floor to become the Chief Operating Officer in the company, until there was only one person who was truly his superior, that being Edward Sallow himself, the co-founder of the company. 

Edward Sallow, current C.E.O. of his eponymous company, though a brilliant businessman, was unhinged, micromanaging and likely to fall into seemingly random fits of rage. It was in these tantrums that he often “found cause” to fire even the most senior employees, and, until it happened to him, Vulpes had found it amusing. He had smiled to himself when Joshua Graham, the co-founder of what was then Sallow and Graham Inc, was chased out of the office by Edward in a rage. He had smiled when Lucius had resigned in a cold fury, when Silus had outright quit, shouting what a low opinion he had of their boss all the way out the door (interestingly, Sallow had not appeared to either defend his name or literally give Silus a boot out the door). 

Vulpes had been loyal, patient, never once speaking out against Sallow or doing anything to aggravate him, biding his time and slowly climbing the ranks as positions opened up above him. He enjoyed the security of his job, and in his own way, lorded it above everyone he witnessed come through Sallow Inc and leave in one way or another. 

There was only one person that Vulpes slightly regretted having a hand in his dismissal. Ulysses had been an ideal choice for taking over Vulpes’ position as Project Manager when Vulpes ascended to Chief Operating Officer, but Ulysses had also left the company, saying something about Vulpes’ methods being too cutthroat for his liking.

He had never committed corporate sabotage against his own company of course, though there were a few times he gave his subordinates a job that ended with them getting fired… or arrested. But none of those could ever be traced back to him, and the only people who would be able to investigate his actions were the survey incorporations, Searchlight and McCarren, and they were both significantly worse for wear and desperately trying to keep their companies from going bankrupt. They had bigger problems to deal with than him.

Vulpes had dedicated _everything_ to the company and had made so many personal sacrifices that he hardly even knew anyone outside of the company, let alone had a social life to show for it. So it caught him completely by surprise when Sallow started bellowing at him during a meeting he was leading about the success of their business. Sallow told him outright not to even bother with a two weeks’ notice and to clear his desk out that day.

Vulpes, as always, did as commanded.

Within days, Vulpes found himself at a loss. He had no job, very little savings, was about to be evicted from his fancy apartment –he hadn’t realized how expensive it had been to live in Flagstaff until he was rapidly running out of money with no one to turn to. His skills were so specialized that he couldn’t get a job anywhere other than a surveying company, and despite his over two decades of experience, not a single corporation in Arizona would hire him. It seemed that Sallow was using his influence over the corporations against Vulpes.

Out of the blue, he received a text from Lucius. He almost didn’t open it out of spite, he wasn’t interested in anything his former co-worker had to say.

Lucius Torres  
  
Heard you got fired  
  
That's right. Come to gloat?  
  
No  
  
Wanted to see if you were looking for a job  
  
Fuck you.  
  
Maybe I am. What's it to you?  
  
The company I’m at in New Mexico is hiring   
  
Not nearly as… glamorous as Sallow, but they’re good people, the work is fair  
  
And the bosses are entirely in control of their frame of mind  
  


Maybe Vulpes _was_ interested in what he had to say... 


	2. Year One: May

They had made plans to meet in Holbrook on Tuesday at noon and Vulpes was acutely aware that he had gotten the better part of the deal. He was driving only an hour and a half, whereas Lucius was driving more than three hours from Albuquerque.

He seethed against the obvious pity the other man was showing him, but… he also couldn’t afford to travel all the way to Albuquerque just to meet him for a _potential_ job offer. Scowling, he arrived at the café that Lucius had chosen for their meeting, Vice & Virtue. Vulpes parked and took a moment to collect himself. It wouldn’t do to make his first impression while in a foul mood. Lucius was doing him a huge favor, and Vulpes knew that if it worked out, he would be deeply indebted to the man.

He looked at his reflection in the visor mirror. He looked awful. Vulpes had taken care to dress sharply that morning, but even the best tailored suit couldn’t hide the bags under his eyes or stress obvious in every line of his body.

The interior of Vice & Virtue was neutral and tasteful, like most cafes were, and Vulpes hated it immediately. He spotted Lucius in a corner booth. He hadn’t noticed Vulpes yet, which meant he could duck back outside, return to Flagstaff, beg Sallow to take him back, or if that didn’t work, get a job in another café that looked identical to this one.

Then Lucius looked up, waved at him, and Vulpes couldn’t duck out now. Stiffly, he walked over to Lucius and sat down across from him. At a closer distance, Lucius looked much better than he had the last time Vulpes had seen him. He had gained weight, his eyes were no longer sunken in, and his cheeks were full. He greeted Vulpes with a large smile, unlike any Vulpes had ever seen on the man before.

“Vulpes! Good to see you!” He extended his hand for Vulpes to shake. He did so, stiff compared to Lucius’ full-bodied shake. “Still drink your coffee black?”

“Yes.”

“Two coffees,” he told the waiter. “One black, one with cream. Thank you.”

Vulpes didn’t want coffee. “Let’s get to business.”

“No catching up beforehand? No polite small talk?” Lucius asked, teasing. Vulpes’ expression didn’t change, and Lucius sighed. Some of his demeanor changed as he shifted into business mode. Lucius became more serious, more authoritative. “Very well. Have you heard of Zia Encuesta?”

“No.” Most of his focus had been on the rival companies in the Flagstaff area. Since Zia Encuesta was based in New Mexico, it wasn’t surprising that Vulpes hadn’t heard of it.

“It’s a geological surveying company very much like SI. Smaller, but we cover more ground than in Flagstaff, mostly because there’s much less population density. Most of our surveys are in ranchlands or rural areas. The work hours are lighter than SI, but so is the pay, but you’ll make more than enough to live. The cost of living in New Mexico is much less expensive than Arizona. What do you think so far?”

Vulpes pondered the information for a bit. It sounded good, a little too good.

The waiter came back with their coffees. Out of habit for avoiding possible information leaks, Vulpes waited until he left before asking, “What is the executive administration like?”

He’d be damned if he worked under another Sallow, especially this soon.

“There’s three of us. Myself, Benny, and Pearl. We handle the contracts for surveys and all the executive decisions. They’re all fair, a little quirky, but all sane. They won’t ask for the impossible or miracles.”

Impressive that Lucius was already so high up on the ladder. “How many other employees?”

“Less than a hundred. But you’ll usually only be in contact with maybe twenty, the other people on the floor you’re working in.”

Vulpes came to the realization that he was already going to accept this job, even if it was as bad as SI. In order to not appear hasty, he took a sip of his coffee. It was disgusting, but he didn’t let it show on his face. “What position and starting wage?”

Lucius told him the pay. It was significantly less than he had made at SI, but also significantly more than he was making now. “But you’d be a cartographer. On the floor again.”

Vulpes steepled his fingers, it was only a matter of not appearing _too_ eager and desperate before he said yes. It had been over a decade since he had been so low on the executive totem pole, but he <i> _was </i>_ desperate.

After a hopefully acceptable amount of time, he asked, “When can I start?”

Lucius smiled widely. He really had changed. “You can start as soon as next Monday. I can tell them to expect you. We can go apartment hunting together beforehand if you want.”

Vulpes smiled thinly. “No thank you. I’ll see you on Monday.” He pulled his wallet out, grabbed a few dollars and set them on the table. Lucius might be helping him out, but he can buy his own coffee. He stood to leave.

“Thank you,” he said stiffly to Lucius.

“You’re welcome,” he replied warmly. “Oh and, Vulpes?”

Vulpes turned back to him.

Lucius paused to drink some of his coffee. “Dress around the office is business casual. Just so you know.”

Vulpes looked down at his attire. It was what he had worn everyday at SI, dress shirt, vest, suit jacket, and slacks. He had even opted to be much more casual and forgo a tie. He ran a hand down the jacket to smooth any wrinkles, grim at the thought of being vastly overdressed, and finally left.


	3. Year One: May

Four days later, Vulpes found himself on his way to Albuquerque, every earthly possession he still owned packed in boxes in his Forte. Lucius had given him the number of an apartment complex less than ten minutes away from Zia Encuesta. Apparently, he was friends with the landlord and worked it out so that Vulpes could move in on the same day he was driving out. Yet something else to add to the list of things he was indebted to Lucius for.

The scenery changed from the familiar urban sights of Flagstaff and its surrounding forestry to desert then to scrublands until he reached the mountains in New Mexico. He stopped once to refuel at the Route 66 casino, talked to nobody, and then continued. Albuquerque was already in sight.

He met Lucius at the apartment complex, despite his multiple objections that he could move in on his own, he wasn’t some college student whose parents were coming to see him off.

“Glad you made it in one piece,” Lucius said amicably as Vulpes pulled up. He was leaning against his truck, a blue Frontier. Vulpes had noticed that there was a much higher density of people who drove trucks in New Mexico, and he felt very out of place with his Kia Forte.

Eager to get the process over with, Vulpes decided to bite the bullet, saying woodenly, “Thank you for coming to help.”

“Any enemy of Sallow’s is a friend of mine. And I couldn’t let you move everything in by yourself, that wouldn’t be very welcoming.”

Vulpes didn’t have all that much stuff, and between the two of them, they were able to move his collection of boxes to his new apartment rather quickly. It was on the fourth floor, but at least the elevator was working, and they had little trouble with his boxes.

His first impression of his new… home was that it was… nice. It wasn’t luxurious by any means, but it was clean, the carpet only had one visible mystery stain, and the furniture that was provided didn’t look like it had been recently pulled out of a dumpster. The main door entered into the kitchen, with the living room past that and a bedroom on either side. There was only one bathroom, but there was only him living there, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

Lucius recommended stacking the boxes in the secondary bedroom until Vulpes had the time to unpack them. It only took them four trips to get everything up and by then, Lucius seemed to pick up on his exhaustion.

On his way out the door, he said, “I’ll see you at work tomorrow, then. At least you’re not having to deal with different time zones, in addition to everything else. And Cass, the landlady, said you could sign the lease on Thursday. Text me when you’re on your way tomorrow morning and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

Vulpes could only nod in comprehension as Lucius closed the door behind him. He was tired from the five-hour drive, he was tired of continuously becoming deeper in debt to Lucius, he was tired of Sallow—this _entire ordeal_ was just exhaustive.

He just wanted to _sleep_.

But first he needed to at least hang up his suits so they wouldn’t wrinkle. Everything else would be kept in their box and put in the other bedroom, to be dealt with later. That done, Vulpes plugged his phone in, made sure his alarm was set, and fell onto the bed, clothes and all, falling asleep almost instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooo, one of the patterns I’ve seen lately in my fics is like? Taking self-confident, arrogant, entitled men and taking Everything away from them and then showing them genuine, unconditional affection from people who they have wronged and who have turned around and forgiven them, especially when they don’t think they deserve it. There’s probably nothing there, so I won’t read too much into it ;)))))


	4. Year One: June

His alarm went off too soon.  


Well. His alarm went off on time, but it _felt_ too soon, and Vulpes dragged himself out of bed, shucking his clothes from yesterday and wearily shuffling to the shower. His soap was still packed up… somewhere, so he just washed himself as best he could without it. He got out, reached for his towel, and realized that that was packed up too.  


Frustration building, he went back to his room and began deciding what he would wear. It was the southwest, he would airdry in about the time it would take to towel himself dry anyways.  


He put on a sleek undershirt, followed by a plain white button up, maroon vest, and charcoal slacks. After his shirt was tucked in and properly cufflinked, he wound a black belt through his pant loops and found that it buckled one hole more than usual.  


That was concerning. When was the last time he had eaten? Was it… yesterday? Had he eaten at all during the drive? He was hard pressed to remember.  


Vulpes checked his phone to see if he had enough time to make something to eat before he left. He didn’t (nor did he even have food in the house, another fact he had forgotten), and instead slipped perfectly shined black shoes over dress socks and tied a silver tie in a half-windsor. Taking a once over in the bathroom mirror, Vulpes was pleased to see that he didn’t look nearly as tired as he had in days previous.  


The system of getting dressed had always been calming to him, and Vulpes took great care in the appearance of himself and his attire. The effort was paying off, and Vulpes was satisfied to see that.  


Checking the time again as Vulpes left his apartment, locking it behind him, he sent a text to Lucius.

Lucius Torres  
  
On my way.  
  


He had to be at Zia Encuesta at 8:30. Considering it was only 8:04 now, and it was a ten minute commute, maybe he had time to grab something to eat.  


No, better not to risk being late. He’d eat during his lunch break.  


The drive there was much less hectic than he expected, Albuquerque must have a different rush hour than Flagstaff, and ten minutes later, he was driving into ZE’s parking lot. He had never seen the company’s complex before and was surprised at its architecture. It was dominated by Zia Encuesta’s three, maybe four story building that was elevated with parking underneath the building. ZE wasn’t the only business there. From what he could see, there was also an escape room, a hardware store, and a bar, all arranged in a strip around a central faux courtyard.  


Lucius was waiting outside next to Zia Encuesta’s lower entrance. He raised his hand in greeting as Vulpes passed him to park.  


“I thought I told you to wear business casual,” he called after Vulpes made his way across the parking lot. As it was practically underground, the air in the parking garage was much cooler than he expected, especially in the morning.  


“This _is_ casual!” Vulpes protested.  


“What exactly about that is “casual”?”  


Vulpes self-consciously smoothed a hand over his tie. “It’s only a half-windsor.”  


Lucius stared at him incredulously for several long seconds, then he burst out laughing in a snort that echoed through the parking garage. “A half-windsor knot makes casual! That’s a hoodah and a half!”  


Vulpes blinked at the strange slang, not sure if he was being complimented or insulted. He didn’t know enough about this new Lucius to be able to tell.  


Lucius took a deep breath, calming down from his fit. “A half Windsor,” Vulpes heard him repeat to himself as he led Vulpes into the building. The interior of ZE was welcoming, but very southwestern. The walls were burnt orange and the lighting was warm, there were potted cactus of various sizes spread around room, and frequent, colorful paintings of southwest landscapes that leant a very comfortable feeling to the lobby.  


“Good morning, Daniel!” Lucius greeted loudly.  


A man behind the desk looked up from tucking away a white cane. His face turned toward them, but his eyes were unfocused.  


“Good morning, Mr. Torres,” he responded quietly and evenly, and it had been a long time since Vulpes had heard anyone call Lucius by his last name, even longer since he himself had had to use it. “Is that our new member with you?”  


“He is. Vulpes, this is Daniel Wyand. Daniel has been our secretary for a year now, and is the reason behind the organization and efficiency of the company. Daniel, this is Vulpes Inculta.”  


Daniel laughed softly, bowing his head demurely. He had the softest southern drawl Vulpes had ever heard. “You flatter me, Mr. Torres, but I am not the only one to blame for our success. Let me be the second to welcome you to our company, Mr. Inculta.”  


Vulpes didn’t like that. He had never been called “ _Mr._ Inculta”—even at Sallow, it had merely been ‘Inculta’. “I appreciate that.”  


With a gesture to Vulpes to follow, Lucius moved past the front desk. To the left stretched a hallway that ended in an elevator and staircase. They walked past two doors that seemed to lead to what looked like conference rooms.  


“Meeting rooms,” Lucius explained in the elevator on the way up, pushing the button for the third floor. “When we get the results of a big survey, we want everyone to be on the same page quickly, so we’ll have our surveyors explain their findings in there.”  


The elevator walls were made of glass, allowing its occupants to see the staircase that wound around the elevator shaft, and—if there were any—anyone going up or down the stairs.  


“There are only three floors. Main floor has the lobby, meeting rooms. Second floor, the other cartographers, land records, construction consultants. Third floor is where administration is. There’s an employee café on the second floor, and the field surveyors all share office space on the third.”  


“When can I expect the surveyors to report in?”  


Sallow had had an enormous collection of surveyors, and at all times there was a team walking in and another team walking out. Most of their data was general on a good day, and completely unreliable on a bad one, but it had all been efficient and expeditious. Vulpes had been glad to distance himself from the other field surveyors when his first promotion happened; he was wary now that he had to work with them again.  


Lucius thought for a moment. “At the moment, there’s six of them. No, never mind, only five. I keep forgetting Daniel isn’t a surveyor anymore. All of them are out in the field right now. Most will show up sometime today or tomorrow, but Six came in two days ago and so isn’t expected back for another week.”  


The way Lucius said ‘Six’, made it sound like it was a name rather than an amount.  


“Six?”  


“Ah, right. ‘Six ‘ is the surveyors’ nickname given to the senior surveyor, but most of the time, we just use ‘de la Garza’. Daniel was ‘Four’ before he was transferred. I think it had something to do with the placement of their office boxes?”  


Vulpes had heard worse nicknames that made less sense than that.  


“Anyways, de la Garza doesn’t come into the office as much as the others but brings more data in one trip than three of them combined,” Lucius continued. “You’ll mostly be working with that. And it’ll be more than enough to keep even you busy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Calling something that's mildly funny "a hoodah and a half" is, unfortunately, actually a thing in NM. I am so sorry.


	5. Year One: June

“This here is Pearl’s office,” he said, changing the subject as he gestured to an older woman who sat behind a desk with three monitors on it, packing a laptop bag. “She heads the entire operation, and her husband, Loyal, is head of our IT department. He can fix any computer problem by just giving it a stern look. Pearl, this is Vulpes.”

“Hello, young man,” Pearl greeted.

Vulpes by no means would consider himself a young man. Pushing into his late thirties, it was more often that Vulpes was called “old” rather than anything else.

“I am sorry I cannot stay to properly greet you,” she apologized. “I have to run downtown to discuss terms for loaning Three to Kimball. He wants to build yet another training gym, as if the three he is already trying to handle is not enough. Well, I say I have to _run_ …”

She spoke quickly but without shortening any of her words, her smile warm and grandmotherly as Pearl moved out from behind her desk. She didn’t stand up, and Vulpes saw that was because she was in a wheelchair. Masking his surprise, he smiled thinly and nodded, realizing that she had made a joke.

“I have heard good things about you, young man. I hope you will deliver,” she said as she rolled past, patting Vulpes fondly on the arm. It took everything in him not to flinch at the contact.

In Flagstaff, he would go months without physical contact from anyone. His inferiors were too scared of him to approach, and his superiors would, at the most, briefly shake his hand. That everyone here was so casual with physical touch was… uncomfortable.

Meeting everyone else on the administration floor went quickly. Aside from Pearl, the only other people in admin were Benny and Swank.

Benny was the only other person Vulpes had seen that was wearing something more formal than business casual, but his suit jacket was a god-awful black and white checkered pattern, and his hair had too much gel in it.

Swank, on the other hand, _was_ wearing business casual: if a tan button up with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, no tie, and two buttons undone could be called "business" casual. At least it was tucked in properly.

Both of them greeted him with mostly faded Boston accents, but returned quickly to their work. As they were leaving, Vulpes glanced back to see Swank leaning over Benny to point at something on his screen, and Benny looking up at him with a look that could only be described as besotted.

Back in the elevator, Vulpes considered asking Lucius about the two of them. Sallow had an odd stance on workplace relationships. He encouraged them, and then privately would tell Vulpes to have a word with their manager to give them more hours to add additional stress, resulting in many of those relationships to break off rather explosively, often during the workday. Sallow was amused by the workplace drama, but Vulpes had just been glad that his office was above the surveyors’ floor and he never had to witness the breakups firsthand.

He decided to keep it to himself. It was a bigger bird to Sallow if he pointedly didn’t do what Sallow had trained him to do.

So lost in introspection, Vulpes didn’t notice that they were leaving the elevator until Lucius was addressing the second floor. He hurried to not be left behind in the elevator.

“Good morning, everybody!” Lucius greeted loud enough for the entire floor to hear. Faces poked out of cubicles and side offices. “This is our newest member, Vulpes Inculta.”

There was a chorus of greetings, and Vulpes was uncomfortable with the number of eyes on him. Usually, he worked by himself and controlled when he did and did not interact with his co-workers.

Lucius put a playful hand on his shoulder, “He’s shy, so I want you all to make him feel welcome. Don’t scare him off.” He winked— _winked_ —and the entire floor chuckled at some joke that Vulpes didn’t get.

The introductions were swift, but Vulpes was good at names and faces, and so had little difficulty remembering them. Lucius went around the room, more or less in an order Vulpes could follow, especially as they waved, smiled, or nodded at their introduction. He made notes in his mind, as this was useful information.

Veronica Santagelo and Christine Royce: mining. Raul Alfonso Tejada: land rights. Boone (no given first name): geotechnical engineer. Mags (a nickname, different circumstance than Boone): GPS. Amar Dhatri: civil engineer. Bitter Root (another nickname) and Sunny Smiles (oddly enough _not_ a nickname): cartographer technicians.

“And you’ll meet Obadiah and Warden, two of the field surveyors, next time they come in,” Lucius finished. “We have another field surveyor, Teion, sometimes you’ll hear him called ‘One’, but he prefers to send his data in without interacting in-person with the techs. You’ll mostly be working with the data de la Garza brings in.”

Vulpes was silent throughout, occasionally nodding, as Lucius showed him to a cubicle in the corner. He took a deep breath, letting it out in a quiet sigh.

“Not what you’re used to,” Lucius commented wryly, one elbow up on the cubicle wall, leaning against it. They had passed by a few cubicles that had enough space for two offices but only had one occupant. It would have made more sense to put Vulpes in one of those, but by setting him up in one that was already empty, Lucius was giving him some space from the rest of the office. Something else to add to the list.

“It will serve its purpose,” was his reply. “Thank you.”

He had been saying that a lot lately, and every time he didn’t quite mean it. Thanking someone when they held power over you was never as genuine as it sounded. Vulpes had learned this from both sides now.

“Loyal also sent up a package for you to set up your business accounts.” Lucius handed him a collection of papers. A quick glance over them revealed them to be laughably simplified step by step instructions for creating his business email and connecting it to the company’s software.

Unbuttoning his suit jacket, Vulpes sat down and took inventory of his new space. The office chair, though obviously not expensive, was comfortable, brown leather that stuck with the southwestern theme prevalent throughout the entire building. Rather than the normal, soul-sucking grey carpet that so often made up cubicle walls, ZE’s cubicles had carpet with faded brown and white jagged diamonds and trim tan. The carpet on the floor had a similar pattern but in red and black.

He unlocked his new computer and began the process that Loyal had so painstakingly set out.

It was time to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to sneezingbees. you're a real one, bro :)  
> Once we've met all of the surveyors, I'll explain who they all are.


End file.
